Teresa Leger Fernandez
Congresswoman-Elect, New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District
Congresswoman-Elect Teresa Leger Fernandez was elected to represent New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District in November, 2020. She is a 17th generation Northern New Mexican, who grew up as part of a large rural ranching and farming familia. The daughter of bilingual education pioneers, she proudly started her education as a little girl in Head Start, eventually going on to graduate from Yale and Stanford Law School. As an attorney and advocate for 30 years, she has worked to advance voting rights, promote tribal sovereignty, build affordable housing, protect our acequia waters, and secure nearly a billion dollars in funding to help build schools, rural health clinics, broadband, businesses and critical infrastructure. A former Vice Chair of MALDEF, Teresa is a committed advocate of Latino civil rights. A Clinton and Obama appointee, Teresa worked as a White House Fellow on housing issues and as Vice Chair of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Teresa and her three sons live in Santa Fe.